Despite the full-scale invasion by Russian troops on 24 February, Ukrainian co-operatives continue to serve their members and communities.
By supplying products, providing food kits for the temporarily displaced or feeding battalions free of charge, the co-ops are helping communities to stay alive.
In a series of posts, the All-Ukrainian Central Union of Consumer Societies (Ukrkoopspilka), which is known internationally as Coop Ukraine, highlighted some of the initiatives undertaken by its members to support those most in need. The Union was able to gather the information using reports by journalists from the Visti co-operative newspaper.
Actions taken by co-ops include supplying products, providing food kits for the temporarily displaced or feeding battalions free of charge.
Employees and members of the co-ops are also involved in making camouflage nets and preparing food packages for the military.
Consumer co-ops estimate they have already contributed hundreds of thousands of hryvnias in donations to the armed forces – some of this comes from employees who choose do donate a percentage of their salaries. The board of a regional consumer union has also bought an electric generator for military.
“We’re all here together at different levels – from the residents of a particular house, street, village, city and nationwide,” Coop Ukraine wrote on 7 March. “Certainly, the system of consumer co-operation of Ukraine feels confident in this union. Because, probably, this is one of the few areas where the principle of unity and mutual assistance is the basis of the philosophy of its existence. It has always been so, it is so today.”
The apex added that its producers and suppliers continue to work well and so far there was no product interruption.
In the Transcarpathia region the co-operative structures work closely with local authorities, volunteers and churches to organise the hosting of people. Three co-operative bakeries of the district consumer union work at full capacity, says Coop Ukraine.
Likewise, in Ternopil the regional consumer co-op union provides goods to commercial establishments while delivering essential goods in close collaboration with the local government.
“We do not allow any interruption in the sale of goods, strictly control price policies and the execution of transactions by producers and suppliers of goods. The number of buyers in the region has considerably increased, especially in the villages,” wrote Coop Ukraine.
The region is also home to one of the country’s several co-operative colleges – the Ternopil co-operative trade and economic college, which runs a hostel where dozens of displaced families are being accommodated.
In Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, Russian rocket attacks hit several blocks of flats and schools. One of those who lost their lives in the air strikes was Vanya Karnaukh, a second-year student at the Kharkiv Cooperative College of Trade and Economics, which said it had suffered “a heavy loss”.
To support each other, the employees of the College set up a mobile messenger group to communicate and report on the situation in their areas and their needs, helping each other whenever possible. The College’s building collapsed on 10 March after being damaged by rocket shelling, reported Co-op Ukraine.
The Mukachevo Cooperative Professional College of Business also lost Vasyl Bilak, one of its graduates.
Another victim was Roman Pavlovych, a graduate of the Lviv Cooperative Professional College of Economics and Law, who died in a fierce battle with the Russian troops.
Similarly, teachers and students of the Lviv Cooperative Professional College of Economics and Law are volunteering while parents are hosting displaces Ukrainians from other regions.
The college’s staff and students work seven days a week in shifts to bake rolls and pies for the Armed Forces and those who have been displaced due to the war. The products are delivered by volunteers. Similarly, staff and students from the Zhitomir Cooperative College of Business and Law are cooking meals for the military and local police in the college’s canteen. The college is also used as a shelter by 15-20 people.
In the city of Sumy, where shelling from the Russian army continues, the employees of co-ops work mostly remotely but come to the store if needed. The co-ops have set up an aid collection centre for those in need.
In the Rivne region consumer co-ops delivered several food cargos to the armed forces of Ukraine and territorial defence battalions. Co-operators also cook hot means for the military using their own stocks as well as products that people bring to contribute to the war effort.
Consumer co-ops are also receiving residents to their buildings and shop basements, which are now used as temporary shelters.
“Today is definitely not the time to talk. All co-operative stores in the region are functioning to meet the priority needs of the countrymen. Fellow citizens and local authorities control prices in the shops. We actively seek the lowest purchase prices so that people have affordable necessities,” writes Co-op Ukraine.
Consumer co-operatives are also operating in the Vinnytsia region where there were no food shortages as of 7 March. The bakeries of consumer co-ops are now working 24 hours to cope with demand for bread. So far no coo-perative facilities in the area have been damaged. Members of co-ops are also sending packages for volunteer centres.
In Odessa the infrastructure is still working and there are products in the shops but the prices on some of them have increased slightly, according to Co-op Ukraine.
In the Mykolaiv district co-operatives produce canned meat at the local restaurant at the request of the local defence unit.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region the situation is stable but there have been some interruptions to the supply of sausages and sweets. The co-ops continue to provide bread for consumers and military units every day and have made two of their shops available for territorial defence battalions in the Nikopol district.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region the situation is stable but there have been some interruptions to the supply of sausages and sweets. The co-ops continue to provide bread for consumers and military units every day and have made two of their shops available for territorial defence battalions in the Nikopol district.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region the situation is stable but there have been some interruptions to the supply of sausages and sweets. The co-ops continue to provide bread for consumers and military units every day and have made two of their shops available for territorial defence battalions in the Nikopol district.
“The system of consumer co-operation works, helps the government, local government, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and hopes for our victory,” a local co-op told Visti newspaper journalists.
Bread continues to be supplied via co-ops in the Zhytomyr region as well, where co-op markets continue to stay open. However, the supply of dairy products, meat and sausages has been affected along with that of fuel.
The local Zhytomyr Cooperative Professional College of Business and Law also supports the local community by cooking for the military, providing support to an orphanage with children with special needs. Products are being delivered with the support of cooperators, college teachers, their families, friends and entrepreneurs.
The Vinnytsia regional consumer union received UAH 150,000 of material assistance from the co-operative community of Latvia, which it donated to the Ukrainian army. The region’s confectionery shops switched to baking bread, working in three shifts to meet the demand.
In the Mikolaiv region, a co-op department store and market shops were burnt down. The co-ops in the region focus on balking and delivering bread.
Similar challenges are faced by co-ops in the Kirovohrad region. In Novomyrhorod co-operators are helping to address water supply issues by accumulating water and transporting it to catering establishments across the city. Around 70% of consumer co-ops continue to operate in some form or another, informs Co-op Ukraine.
In In Sievierodonetsk, a city in the Luhansk Oblast region in Eastern Ukraine the local consumer union continues to operate despite having had to relocate multiple times. According to Oksana Kochyna, a member and chief accountant of the local union’s board, co-op shops in the regions are closed. She told Visti journalists that some stores have been looted by Russian troops.
“They break into our shops, destroy equipment, food and consumer goods are flying off the shelves. The locals are exhausted, frightened, those who did not have time to evacuate, remain without electricity, heat, water, gas, hiding in basements and shelters,” she said. Meanwhile, consumer co-op stores in the Sumy region have had to close down while others do not have goods due to logistics.
Despite these challenges, all co-op employees continue to receive wages and no one has been fired. The union also runs a market in Sievierodonetsk, which is the only co-operative enterprise to remain open.
“We work closely with local authorities, who deliver humanitarian aid to the indoor market, and from there it is sent to the regions. In order not to repeat the situation with fuel: the price for it in Sievierodonetsk jumped more than 10 times, together with the civil-military administration we monitor the prices. A third of companies have suspended their operations in Ukraine,” added Ms Kochyna.
“Today is not a time for words, but a time for action,” Co-op Ukraine said in a social media post on 2 March, adding that its leadership remained and continued to work in Kyiv.
“We coordinate enterprises and organisations, restore chains of interaction where the war destroyed any processes. Bomb shelters and the whistling of rockets have become our routine in the last 7 days.
“Across Ukraine, consumer co-operatives have stepped up the production of bread to an emergency regime and are making sure that there are essential goods on the shelves of our stores,” Co-op Ukraine said in a social media post.
Disruptions meant that some co-ops had to find local suppliers, new formats for purchasing goods and raw materials for production.
This story was last updated on 25 March
